"Group leader...."
"What does it mean?"
The warriors are wondering.
"You noticed something?" Debal said, frowning.
Rengha looked around him and nodded. His group was so focused in trying to kill the demon that their mental judgement became somewhat clouded.
It can happen during an intense battle when a warrior is being overcome by his fighting instincts. It is a good thing as it can boost a warrior's strenght and reflexes. The downside is while they are so focused in the enemy on front of them, they tend to lose the ability to assess the surrounding area they are in. It could spell death.
"We should stop following that demon for now and regroup." Rengha said.
"But the demon will get away. We already injured it."
"Group leader. Let's hunt it down, this is a good chance for us to do it."
"Yes, that demon will exhaust its energy soon. We can kill it."
The warriors around him started talking one after the other. He might be the one who is incharge in the group, but he is only 1 rank higher than them. They will obey his commands but they can voice out their opinions too. Afterall, discussing a certain issue is a good thing before coming into a final decision.
"Group leader, you must have a good reason. Tell us." His second in command, Debal said calmly.
Rengha nodded before started explaining.
"Remember our mission, we are to rendezvous with the lady enchantress and ensure her safe journey to the village. We only noticed the demon earlier when we activated the magic eye. It could have been following us the whole day, way back from the village. If we consider that possibility, what are the chances of that demon knowing our real mission?"
Rengha said.
The warriors in front of him fell silent. They are thinking about it.
"We attacked the demon earlier and chase it all the way here. Not only did it not fight us back, it will even look at us from time to time while it leap and jump over trees. It seems to want to make sure that we will follow him to wherever it go."
"Do you think that it is luring us to a certain area?" Debal suddenly asked.
"Are we being trapped?"
Rengha nodded. "That is most certainly it. It want us to think that we injured it and it's running away for his life, baiting as to give chase. Now look where we are now." He said, and paused. Allowing his words to sink in to everyone.
His group looked around the area. They are now deep inside the dark forest. They might already be dozen kilometers from the bridge at this point considering that they have been chasing the demon for almost an hour now. The trees surrounding them are all huge and the dense leaves form a canopy that blocks the dull moonlight in the sky.
Their faces turned dark. The demon seems to be trying to lead them to a trap. They have almost been had.
"That demon wants us to believe that we have injured it. It even did so convincingly considering all this blood. But look at how fast and nimble it is. I have encountered many demons in the past but i have never seen anything that can leap and move like that. I don't think an injured demon can be that fast." Rengha continued speaking.
The warriors in front of him murmured in agreement and nodded. Everyone of them indeed has experienced a battle with demons. This one is a little different.
"Look at us, we might feel energized right now with all this adrenaline but our magic vein is a different story. We have been casting attack magic nonstop for a while now, yet we can't simply make a fatal hit. At this point, we may end up chasing that demon until sunrise it will not take long after that for our magic vein to be depleted." Rengha said.
A warrior fighting a demon with a depleted magic vein is like going to a war naked. Armors and weapons that is used by the Pintados are all magically crafted. magic vein is like an activating catalyst. If a warrior wore a heavy armor and tried to lift an axe, he might find himself restricted to move around, burdened by the sheer weight and therefore will be useless in combat. Magic is cast out from the warrior's body and make a connection to the gears he is holding and wearing, making it a part and an extension of his body. Magic vein is also required to activate the magical attribute of a weapon, artifacts, amulets and such.
"Let's go back to the bridge and regroup. We will activate layers of defensive artifacts and barriers. We need to recover our strength. We will not fall victim for that demon's trap." Rengha said, and started jog back.
"Yes!" His warriors replied at the same time and followed him.
That demon is smart. It must have known about their mission. It planned to lure them away from the road and make them deplete their magic vein. It did not engage them earlier so it must have a deeper plan for them had they fall to its schemes.
If his theory is correct, that the demon earlier has been following them from the village, then it mabye just a decoy, intending to lure them away or stall them. If so, it is highly possible that there is also another demon that is tasked to attack the lady enchantress.
Rengha thought to himself.
-----
Saluk was all bruised up.
"What the hell." he whispered to himself.
An hour earlier, he was just eating his fish, up in his branch, minding his own business.
All of a sudden Saluk felt as if he was teleported inside a tornado. He was banged around, pushed and pulled from all direction by some strong and sharp gusts of wind. He even hit his head a few times on the tree trunk and a few flying, broken tree branch bashed him silly.
A moment later, the big tree, his personal sanctuary tilted sideways and started to fall to the ground. That was the time he noticed the group of hooded men standing bellow. They were casting offensive magic on him. He is being attacked. They were the bandits from the bridge.
'What the hell?' Saluk jumped to the next tree. He was so confused to be scared.
He doesn't have anything of value. His clothes are dirty and soiled. What would these bandits gain from him? It's not like is carrying a treasure or anything.
Just as he was about to try and talk his way out, he was attacked again. They were using some kind of offensive wind magic on him with their blades. Saluk was no masochist so he quickly jumped away one more time.
His feet just touched the next tree branch when he heard footsteps following him. These bandits really wants his skin.
Saluk flee.
'What is their problem?' He has been jumping from tree to tree for a while then. Jumping on trees is exhausting. He was starting to get worried. He will leap on the trees for a few minutes and try to catch his breath. But when he looks back hoping that he may have finally lost the bandits, he will see them a few dozens of meters away, chasing him like crazy.
He leaped away again. He was so used to wearing his blindfold that he has no problem seeing clearly the trees around him even with just a dull moonlight. One of his reason also as to why he doesn't use the ground to run was obvious. As much as he want to hide it, he feels afraid.
There are around 10 bandits chasing at his back, as if hell bent on killing him. If he jumped down to the ground and run instead of leaping over trees, there is a big chance that they will catch them. Who knows what they will do to him when they realized that the one they were chasing for almost an hour doesn't have a single coin in him. These bandits might roast him like a chicken and eat him for breakfast.
Saluk felt goosebumps on his skin when he thought of it. He doesn't want to be on someone's breakfast menu. He continued to leap forward.
He was really starting to get exhausted when a sudden thought came to his mind.
'It may not be what you want, but this is all i have.' He thought. With a grim face, he threw away the last two fish he has to the direction of the bandits. It was the 2 biggest fish that he intentionally left for last.
He leaped away again.
To his surprise, he heard a repeatitive high pitched whistle. He looked back, and sure enough, his pursuers backed away one by one.
Thinking about everything that had happened in the past hour, Saluk sighed again.
"What the hell."
His clothes was ripped in many places and he has a lot of gash and bruises.
He is now standing in a branch of the tallest tree in his vicinity.
He can't believe it. Those bandits chased him around for that long, just for a couple of fish? Did they not notice the river nearby? It's not like they are all afraid of the water.
Saluk was so confused, he was not able to make heads or tails of it.
'But those are my food.' He thought again.
He contimplated for a while then turned and leaped back.
Those bandits are dangerous and seems to have a habit of attacking people for the shallowest reasons. He should watch them.
He leaped back towards the direction of the bridge. The bandits should be back there, as they made it their camp.
After some time, he reached a distance where he could see the bridge again. And sure enough, the bandits are there, seemed to be resting.
"You must have enjoyed my fish, huh." Saluk said softly.
He watched them silently for a while before letting out a huge yawn.
'I'm sleepy.' He said. With a final glance to the group, he went down and find a spot to rest.
-----
The Pintados were all resting for a while now. Some of them are even deeply asleep. They all had a long night.
Rengha was no exception. Afterall, rest is as vital as food for warriors like them.
Suddenly the air above them turned warm and a long soft whistle sounded, waking them all up.
"The demon is back. It is watching us again." Rengha said grimly, sitting himself.
The other warriors resting did not rise up immediately, but are already wide awake. They are waiting for orders.
"What should we do?"Debal asked.
"Nothing. We rest. We have multiple layers of defensive barriers. That demon did not attack back then, it will not attack now." Rengha said.
Rengha was right all along. That demon was following them.
If they had chased the demon around the forest the whole night, they might not have the needed strength to continue their mission tomorrow.
And it is also sometime around tomorrow afternoon that they are expected to meet up with the lady enchantress. They will not be able to do their job and protect her if they are tired and exhausted.
Considering the events that unfolded, it is apparent that the demon want them exhausted. If that was what it planned, then their real goal was the lady enchantress.
The air turned normal again and the soft whistle vanished after a couple of minutes. The demon stopped watchimg them, it must also have gone to rest.
"Everyone, try to sleep. We are safe for tonight. The demon will not attack us. We need to recover our strength for tomorrow." Debal said, addressing the warriors before nodding to Rengha and lie down.
'It did not win today. It will not win tomorrow.' Rengha thought to himself and closed his eyes.